


Burning Shame

by Vexicle



Series: Ice Cream Sundae [8]
Category: Original Work
Genre: Drabble, F/M, Fluff, Relationship Discussions
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-16
Updated: 2018-05-16
Packaged: 2019-05-07 18:51:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,685
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14677248
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Vexicle/pseuds/Vexicle





	Burning Shame

“Aquilo, are you ashamed of us?”

Aquilo starts. “Why would I?” he asks, stunned.

Cherry gulps and fidgets, her hands behind her back, her feet kicking the grass beneath her feet. Aquilo looks around, then stands up to leave with her, somewhere more private than the noisy large field. He could spare a few moments. Anything for her.

“We've been together a while now. You never really want to do anything in public,” Cherry says once they're a distance away.

Aquilo tries his best to swallow his slight annoyance and hurt. His mind is buzzing with unanswered questions, namely, “ _Don't you trust me_?” He has to admit, to a certain degree he _is_ being annoying as hell.

“I mean, I know it’s you and all, but…” Hurt flashes in Cherry’s dark eyes. “Like, I don't know. You're okay with hugging others where everyone can see, but not me. Is there something wrong?”

Aquilo’s unable to come up with an answer for a few moments. It's true. He looks over to where his teammates and their juniors are playing on the field, kicking the black and white ball around. Some of them look back curiously, but decide not to do anything.

“They're my friends,” he says finally, the excuse sounding thin even to him. He shakes his head. _No no no, I'm the one screwing up here, but I don't even know why either!_

“But if you can hug your friends, why not your girlfriend?” Cherry isn't angry; she's just sad, her body drooping like a wilted flower, and nothing makes Aquilo’s heart ache more. There are several lines of reasoning that just can't be argued with, and one of them being that Cherry isn't complete without her smile. Honestly, he would have preferred if she had yelled at him.

Aquilo, for some unfathomable reason, feels his face turn red. “I…” he says weakly, then decides to throw all caution to the wind. He steps closer, and despite his heart pounding out of control and the sudden nervousness that grips him like a vice, he cautiously puts his arms around her.

Cherry looks startled, but it slowly fades into pleasant surprise. Flustered, Aquilo withdraws just as suddenly, and seconds later he feels something heavy weigh on his chests. He feels hot and prickly all over. Maybe Cherry’s right. Maybe it is shame. 

“I don't know why I push you away,” Aquilo admits in a small voice, hugging himself. It's almost as if his subconscious takes over for half a second just to physically shoulder her away, like what happened just now. He feels the embarrassment washing over him in waves. Can't he control his outbursts better than that? He's probably less mature than a child.

Cherry is silent, before she steps closer and rests her hand against his shoulder. “Well, what's the difference between me and your friends?” Cherry asks, in no hurry whatsoever. “We can start from that and work from there.”

“I'm in… love… with you,” Aquilo whispers, blushing. He forces himself to look his girlfriend in the eye, no matter how much he feels like backing away. He needs to gain control over himself. She's trying to help, isn't she? Cherry deserves basic respect. She probably deserves better than him. So Aquilo pushes away all his emotions that are all at war with each other and tries to show his sincerity.

“I know, and I love you too. But that doesn't really answer my question, Quilly,” Cherry says. She's beginning to sound a little frustrated. Aquilo wants to abandon thread and run, but he's rooted to the spot.

“I-I mean…” _God, help me!_ “It's… no one watches us, then, but… I'm still… kinda scared.” Aquilo struggles to get the words out, to lock his nervousness away in a box and throw it in the ocean. “If I accept what you give me, you think it's funny.”

Cherry’s gaze sharpens at that. “What?”

It’s as if a cold breeze is blowing. “You… you laugh,” he mumbles feebly, scratching at his neck. The last of his courage flees and he backs away, shrinking beneath the intensity of the look she's giving him. “Every time, you're… always.”

_Crap, it isn't really her fault I can't handle even a little teasing!_ Aquilo looks up at her, awaiting her judgement like a lowly mortal.

For a while, she doesn't do anything, seemingly stunned. Cherry takes a breath, then pulls him closer by the shoulders. “I… I wasn't laughing at you,” she explains, shaking her head gently. “I just like you and think you're cute, if that makes sense?”

Aquilo's heart does some funny artistic gymnastics routine at that.

“Maybe… next time you could stop?” Aquilo flushes. He hates sounding like he's accusing Cherry of something, but the prospect of lower amounts of teasing and whatever Cherrythings she does sounds rather appealing.

Cherry pauses. “I didn't realise,” she says apologetically. “You don't really make it clear. I just thought you were being you. I'll listen from now on. I'll try.”

“You know, to be fair, I didn't realise it myself till just now. It just slipped out.” Aquilo sighs and closes his eyes. “I'll try, too. I started just now, so I think I can do it.”

Cherry waves her arms about. “Nonononono! You can go at your own place, it's no problem.”

Aquilo nods gratefully at her. “I just don't think a relationship is for anyone else’s eyes,” he explains, training his eyes on the ground, feeling self-conscious. “But it's kind of dumb, isn't it?”

“Ah, so that's why you're more embarrassed?”

Aquilo shrugs defensively, then tells himself off. _Didn't you just say you'd try? Stop that!_ “I-I think.” He hangs his head and sighs. “Okay, Cherry. I'm really grateful for this, so… I… thank you.”

Amusement glimmers in Cherry’s dark eyes, but she doesn't say anything. Aquilo thinks he could, and should get used to this. He puffs up a bit at his pride at getting through that… embarrassing sentence. Then he deflates as he wonders, “Am I really that sensitive?”

“It's not a bad thing to be,” Cherry tells him, taking his hands in hers. Aquilo tenses, but decides not to wrench his hand away, though he feels flustered nonetheless. “Is this okay?”

Even though their entire talk has Aquilo basically swearing to be less of a prude, he still casts a glance over to the field. No one’s really looking, so he nods. His legs suddenly feel so, so tired, and he promptly sits down on the soft grass. “Sit here,” he invites Cherry, and she obliges, giving him a thousand-watt smile that makes his spine tingle.

“I'm really sorry,” she says sincerely. “I can't believe I didn't pick up on your discomfort. It's been almost ten years, so I'm pretty dumb.” Is that guilt in her voice? Aquilo makes sounds of protest. He doesn't believe it's her fault, not at all! He won't be having any of that.

“Yeah, right. If you're dumb, I'm being dumb as well. I didn't say anything.” Despite himself, Aquilo gives Cherry a half-smile, feeling fluttery and heavy in his chest all at once. It's confusing and threatens to drag him under with the force of it.

“Quilly, Quilly. We were both being dumb,” Cherry offers as a compromise, her eyes twinkling.

“I love you,” Aquilo blurts out.

“In private, right?” Cherry raises one delicate eyebrow.

His heart starts thumping again, and Aquilo almost feels nauseous for some reason. He splutters out broken words and phrases at that, before he forcibly cuts himself off and says, “Is _that_ okay? I... I just don't want other people to witness stuff, or like... laugh.”

“Of course it's okay,” Cherry chirps, training her loving gaze on him. Aquilo can feel the compassion from her, fading his doubts away and making him feel so warm. 

“But hugs? Is that still a no?”

“Well, I suppose it wouldn't be fair,” Aquilo mutters, hugging his knees to his chest. “I'll try not to lash out, but I still might. Forgive me. It's all new to me.” He shakes his head, feeling troubled. “I've never gone on more than two dates with anyone else, so this is just really weird, but I want to try.”

Cherry inches closer, as if not daring to breach Aquilo’s extremely volatile personal boundary. Aquilo is torn between wanting to meet her halfway or move away, so he simply stays put as she says, “Thank you, Quilly. You're doing your best, right? So you don't need to feel sorry.”

“Well then, same goes for you,” Aquilo finally relaxes into a smile, his brain buzzing with affections for his partner. _We've been friends for so long. Surely this will be easy? We'll get through it. It'll be fine._

“I love you too, okay?” Cherry whispers.

“And I you,” Aquilo admits. “Is it okay to… do other stuff later? Talk, or whatever you want, or -” Flustered, he almost cuts off his sentence right then and there, but if there’s one thing he wants to do right now, it's kiss Cherry, have all of her - with her beautiful curly hair and dark eyes and soft round cheeks and -

“Are you sure you want to be staring in public?” Cherry teases.

“I don't know, but you sure this is okay for you?” Aquilo frets. Just because he's uncomfortable doesn't mean Cherry is, after all, and he'd hate to force her into anything at all. However, the look on Cherry's face tells him two things: that she knows what he's thinking, and to premptively shut up.

“Aww, don't worry, Quilly. Just because it's behind closed doors doesn't make anything you do less special to me.” There's mirth in Cherry’s voice. “Honestly, you confessing to me at all made me feel really accepted, kinda like I'd done something great. You just have that effect, you know? I'm not gonna let you go that easily.”

_And you're important to me too._ Glancing over at her, he quickly, swiftly, steals a kiss and stands up, blushing deeply.

When he looks back, Cherry’s face is as red as her nickname.


End file.
